Dennis S Shields

The 111th Congress is considering the effectiveness and operations of the federal crop insurance program. The House Committee on Agriculture has been seeking input from farmers and others on the program in advance of the next farm bill debate. Meanwhile, concern about the federal budget deficit is c...

Managing price and income risks can be a major challenge for dairy farmers. In 2011, the farm price of milk has rebounded from lows in 2009, but the price of corn, a major feed ingredient, has reached record highs. The volatile nature of commodity markets presents opportunities for profits and losse...

The enacted 2014 farm bill eliminated “direct payments,” which were provided annually to producers and landowners of covered commodities from 1996 to 2013 based on historical production and a fixed payment rate set in statute. All farm program support now consists of variable payments. The PLC and A...

God Went Fishing tells the remarkable story of Sigmund, a handsome and kind young man who led an idyllic life until learning the woman he thought to be his mother had stolen him from the hospital where she’d just given birth, leaving her real child behind. This satirical novel follows Sigmund’s adve...

This book covers the cellular level including cell communication, DNA organization, and cytoskeletal development and function.

The changing structure of U.S. agriculture has generated concerns about reduced competition in a wide variety of agricultural products markets, including dairy. Two primary areas of concern in the dairy industry are consolidation—the shift to fewer and larger firms—and industry concentration—the ext...